Knitting

 I came across a news segment a few weeks ago about a knitting boom in Japan. From what I could understand knitting has become so popular among young people (late teens to early 30s) that a lot of 100 yen shops (like pound/dollar stores) have sold out of yarn. Even the 100 yen store I use was sold out of a lot of yarn.

These are usually full.

One young lady was saying that there are a lot of tutorials on the Internet so it's easy to learn how to knit!

This made me think of how I learnt to knit. 

When I was 12 years old my Mom was pregnant with my youngest brother. I remember that winter sitting around the heater with my best friend from school, knitting little jackets for the baby! We would knit and chat about things. It's such a lovely memory for me.

I'm okay at knitting, I know the basics but have a hard time with shaping things, decreasing or increasing stitches to shape the arm holes for a sweater gets me tied up in knots, literally sometimes! My Mom always came to rescue when I got confused doing that.

Mom loved to knit because it stopped her from smoking, you can't knit and do something else with your hands!  

When I had my kids she knitted a few things for them. I've kept these little jackets and bonnets, it's a nice reminder of my Mom and her love for her grandkids!

A few things Mom knitted for my kids

At the moment I'm teaching myself how to crotchet.  I have no idea what I'm doing, I watched a couple of tutorials, so I've learnt a basic stitch but have no idea how to shape things. I've been using up some left over yarn that I had hanging around.

My attempt at crochet

I don't know why it's gone a funny shape!  

I've been doing this while I'm waiting for Mikey to finish his classes. It's really soothing somehow!

I'm thinking of buying wool and needles to knit some throw blankets. I would love to learn how to crochet granny squares, throws made from them always look so lovely.